One major obstacle to use of Macs in the enterprise has always been the absence of Outlook. Sure Macs have Entourage, but the program just doesn’t cut it for business users entrenched in the ways of Outlook. Those set on using a Mac have often resorted to partitioning their hard drives or installing programs like Outlook2Mac to access the program.
Soon such tactics will no longer be necessary, as Microsoft has announced the availability of Outlook in the next version of Mac Office. The change will likely be implemented in the new version of Office that is set for release in time for the holidays in 2010. In the mean time, those using Entourage 2008 Web Services Edition will enjoy steps Microsoft has taken towards making the experience more Outlook-like.
The release comes as part of a new business edition of Mac Office designed to provide Mac users with better connection to Microsoft Exchange Server and improved compatibility across platforms. Microsoft’s Mac unit is also building the Outlook software from the ground up to ensure compatibility with Mac’s backup and hard-drive search features.
As far as pricing goes, the new version will replace the current version of Office 2008 that sells for $400. Microsoft will continue to offer Office 2008 Home and Student edition for $150.
The article lead me to believe that there was some secret tester program that I was not aware of that would give me Outlook on the Mac NOW!
Interesting to think that if MSFT simply extended the full functionality of OWA to all modern browsers, not just IE, Outlook would be available for ALL platforms.
Agreed. Now Available means something is actually available. Not just announced. Very misleading headline.
Stephen, OWA in Exchange 2010 supports non-IE browsers, including Safari on Mac. See here:
http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2009/02/12/450639.aspx
It has been a great news that Outlook is made available in next version of Mac Office and provides platform compatibility. It would satisfy the users who entrench through outlook, without installing outlook2mac software.
This is great way to align your product with the needs of businesses. This is a good strategy for Apple. Eventually, iPhones may widely be accepted as Blackberry’s are today in the business word.
It is great to see that Microsoft is finally moving forward with this. However, they really need to find a reason to get users to still pay for their Office products instead of using free online alternatives.
A pretty good one is that they actually work.
Outlook for Mac is just a name change from Entourage.. the only difference it’s now being built with Cocoa
actually, it’s not. i got laid off from one of their many market research firms, studying what people want in office 2010, and what they’re gonna get is OUTLOOK, and not some crazy incompatible thing. That doesn’t mean it’ll be identical to Windows, but there will be feature parity at last, at least.
Not sure it’s a GOOD IDEA, but it’ll quiet all the exec/IT feuds in companies that have to let the bigwigs carry their shiny mac, while IT only supports Outlook for email.
Lo flipo
I’m pretty sure Outlook for mac is not gonna make it with Snow Leopard having native exchange support in Mail.app. 29$ to upgrade to Snow Leopard sounds way better than paying for Outlook.
For individual users maybe. For corporations no way. Mind you, since Macs don’t really have a significant corporate presence perhaps it won’t matter.
The other problem with your argument is that Mail is awful.
Mac users are cute how they want to pretend they are competitive in the business space. Like a teenage girl thinking she’s so mature.
This is fucking link bait. Stop this madness Techcrunch, or find some new readers.
Now available? Really?
Wow, should satisfy all the people out there that use bootcamp or vmware fusion JUST for Outlook!
Open-Office
How about just making Outlook Web Access (non-”lite”) work in Firefox, Safari, Chrome, or anything else but IE? That would be a great start.
Jason and Stephen,
To see screenshots of OWA (2010) premium support in Safari and Firefox, go here
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/2010office/imageGallery.aspx
why is Mac Excel 2008 so terrible? That app is the #1 reason I still use a PC at work by choice. I use a mac at home.
This is only notable if the “Mac Outlook 2010″ is actually feature complete/comparable to the Windows version and they features all work – aka not just a name change from Entourage. That being said, the announcement is encouraging.